Now I can get into a little more detail.
Summary
We just moved back to the Phoenix area from San Diego in June 2014 and moved into a 9-year-old home in Northeast Mesa. One of the (few) things we missed while living in San Diego was our theater that we built 10 years ago in our last home in Mesa, so when we moved back we knew we wanted to do another one. Our house backs up to Whisper Mountain...thus the working name of the theater. It's a two story frame and stucco job (typical for the area), sadly with no basement (also typical around here, although my neighborhood is semi-custom, and many of my neighbors added basements to their plans). The theater will be converted from a "2nd Family Room" that is adjacent to the main family room on the first floor (post tension slab as a floor). The ceilings throughout the house are 10 feet, so I have plenty of room in that direction, but the rest of the theater dimensions are fairly constrained. This room makes my last theater (which I thought was pretty small at the time) seem downright palatial.
Dimensions
12' 3" wide by 17' 4" long by 10' high
The tight quarters have necessitated some compromises to both the soundproofing and the finished audio quality, but they are compromises we can live with based on the other requirements. Our basic requirements include two rows of seats (to seat 6 or 7 people), separate and dedicated room, and some sound isolation. Planning on 5.2 sound, but will wire for 7.2.4 for future upgrade/expansion. I considered 7.1 for the initial build, but in this small of a room with the 2nd row so close to the rear of the room, I think it might sound worse rather than better.
Plans
Our first theater was built about the time green glue hit the market back in 2004, and I used it with double drywall and a sealed room approach to try to contain sound. It worked pretty well, actually, so we know what to expect in this one…because we are going to forego the clips and channel again. This time due to space constraints (last time I didn’t do it because I simply didn’t know about it, if I remember correctly). I guess it’s more appropriate to say for space AND cost constraints, as I know I could use those special clips that recess in the studs and joists so that the hat channel runs parallel, but those suckers are expensive! Add to that the fact that two of my walls will not be demolished (the two others and the ceiling will have its sheetrock removed as part of the build) and it didn’t make sense to do clips and channel…especially since we know exactly what to expect. The statement I made to my wife was, “Well, if we do it the way I’m thinking of, the soundproofing will be very similar to our last theater. For a lot of expense and labor I can make it even better. What do you want to do?” Her answer was, “Well, just do it like our last one…it was really good.” That sealed it for me. No clips and channel, just double drywall and green glue.
The size of the room also dictated another compromise…no AT screen and false/baffle wall. While I really wanted to go that route this time, there is simply not enough space to still have two rows. Even without doing it there is barely enough space. So that had to change as well. The speakers will be to the side of the screen and the center channel underneath (or above, if I am convinced this is better and I can pull it off).
So, that’s the soundproofing and the screen. Here is a list of a few of elements of the theater as planned currently.
- Stage (probably around 10”)
- Riser (probably 14”-16”)
- 110” or 120” 16x9 screen (I want the 120”, but I might not be able to squeeze the 120” in there, so still thinking on this one).
- Soffits all around, probably 18”x12”.
- Crown molding as a light tray on the soffits with up-lighting (probably LED rope lights…I’m experimenting with color changing models)
- Some sort of columns (I know…in this small of a room it seems like a waste, but I need the columns to house the power outlets, sconce lights, and speaker wire since I won’t have holes in my outer sound shell).
- Can lighting in the soffits
- Two sconce lights on two side columns
- Re-using two existing 15A circuits instead of running new electrical circuits
- New equipment closet built outside the theater in the main family room (will be the game room)
- Insteon lighting throughout (I already use an Insteon system with ISY hub for other parts of the house)
- Sound Treatments for the finished room (currently working with GIK Acoustics to figure that out)
Shipping is a Feature
And speaking of the “features” of the theater, I’ll say one last thing. For us, shipping is a very important feature. I’m in the software business, and we often say that shipping is a feature, too. Let me say that I’m in awe of the amount of planning and dedicating that many AVSers put into their theaters. I won’t be one of them. I’ve got a couple of teenage boys and another almost teenage boy that keep us very busy. We travel a lot (I’ll be gone a LOT of the summer) and we have a great tow-boat (it’s a Tige if anyone cares ) and spend a lot of time on the local lakes from April until September, and we have a bunch of other also important stuff (including a busy job that finances all of this fun), so I can’t have this theater build hanging over me for months and months (or even years)…so I will try to make this a quick-ish build. I finished my first theater in about 3 months (and that included a break for Christmas), but I worked very hard on it and took some significant vacation days to be able to do that. I think this one might take a tad longer for a couple of reasons (I’ll explain later), but I want it to be about that. So, I keep telling myself when I go into rat holes in my planning…shipping is a feature, too…so let’s ship it. I can always refactor later. I think this being my second theater will help (there really wasn’t anything major I wanted to change about my last one). We don’t even know if we will stay in this house long-term, but we loved our last theater and used the hell out of it, so we wanted to have one again.
Equipment
I currently have quite a bit from my last theater that I’m going to reuse at least initially…but a few equipment purchases to make.
Currently have waiting:
- LCR Speakers: Polk Audio RTi70 Towers and a matching horizontal center channel (CSi 40)
- Surround Speakers: Polk Audio f/xi 3 bipole/dipole surrounds
- Projector: Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 8100
- AV Reciever: Deonon AVR-889
- Xbox One
- Seats: I have two motorized recling sofas that we will likely start with in the theater
To purchase for launch of this theater:
- Two Subwoofers (currently leaning heavily toward SVS PB-1000s and have spoken to SVS about this room for advice).
- New screen. I’ll probably go cheap on this…maybe Elite Screens or Silver Ticket. Haven’t decided on size or brand, but it will not be acoustically transparent () and will be white.
- New Blu-ray Player (planning on the Oppo BP-103)
Fast upgrades after launch of theater (unless I can’t wait)
- New AVR – Leaning toward Denon AVR-x4100 (or other model with Audyssey MultEQ XT32 for better bass management). I have off and on considered some Imotiva seperates gear…but I’m just not sold yet. We’ll see.
- New Speakers – I may audition some other speakers once everything is up and running. I have always really liked my Polks, but I know there are other speakers out there that I’ll likely like better. But that’s gravy once we’re up and running.
- Theater Recliners – Leaning towards the Fusion Jive from Roman (http://www.rtheaters.com/FusionCollection/FC-Jive-1013.html) because of their space-saving qualities. We could squeeze rows of 3 and 4 if we choose to.
Compromises
As I’ve mentioned, out choices are not without compromise. First, two fit two rows in this theater means that the front row will be a little too close (about 10’ viewing distance) and the back row will be a little too far away (~ 16.5’), and since the back row will be so close to the rear wall, audio quality will be less than perfect. Also, not being able to get a false wall in there with an AT screen will limit the possible size of the screen, the aspect ratio choices, etc.
All of this was taken into account during the decision-making process, and we prioritized the most important things for us. I’ve come to grips with the fact that I won’t have it all. It won’t be the best sounding theater, and it won’t have the perfect viewing angles, or the most space to spread out. It won’t have the largest screen, or the deepest base, or even close to the best sound-proofing, but I know we will enjoy the space, though…and that’s what is important. We had a dedicated theater before, and we were surprised by how much we used it (even just for quiet reading sometimes), and with the kids and their friends being older now…we know this will be a popular place in the house. In fact, my wife mentioned the other day that we would probably end of relegated to watching movies in our bedroom while the kids and their friends bogarted the theater. Oh well, small price to pay for having the kids here enjoying themselves with their friends rather than out who-knows-where doing who-knows-what with who-knows-who. Other parents of teenagers will understand.